Apple has yet to officially open its iCloud service for public use, but it seems that the Cupertino giant is already going to have to deal with competition from the likes of Amazon in winning the hearts of consumers over to its side, especially where music streaming and storage services are concerned. Apparently, Amazon has moved to draw first blood by adding in partial support for iOS in its Cloud Player service, along with a few extra features thrown in for good measure. Your move now, Apple.

When Amazon first launched its Cloud Player service for consumers way back in March this year, critics were quick to point out that the multinational electronic commerce company had seemingly chosen not to include support for one of the world's fastest growing mobile platform; iOS. However, it seems that Amazon has since changed its stance over iOS support, and its latest announcement is probably the best proof of that fact.

In its press release, Amazon has confirmed the availability of a web-based version of the Cloud Player service, which can be accessed on an iPad via the built-in Safari web browser. And according to a report published by TUAW, Amazon has seemingly done a decent job in ensuring that the web-based version of Cloud Player remains faithful to the actual desktop client in most respects, even going as far as claiming that the web app looks and performs just like the desktop version.

Unfortunately, it seems that the iPad is the only product in Apple's iOS lineup that will be getting any love from Amazon, for no mention has been made about support for other iOS-powered devices such as the iPod Touch and the iPhone. And even then, the fact that the iPad can only access Cloud Player via the web-based app will probably turn off iPad owners who prefer to have native apps for their devices, although we'd argue that a having a web-based app is still a much better alternative as opposed to being completely cut off from an online service.

That being said, Amazon has also announced its plans to give users access to an unlimitted amount of storage to store their music files, and that this privillege will be made available to both free and paid accounts. However, this only applies to music bought directly off Amazon, and that there will still be a limit of 5GB for fersonal music uploads. Well, that is defintiely better than nothing.